By Helen Chang, Becky Lockhart and Mikelle Mora
The American Library Association opened its annual conference in New Orleans on June 24. We attended the conference as representatives of the FCC. Our purpose was to help educate consumers, librarians and educators on important issues such as Broadband and E-rate. During the event, we spoke to attendees, disseminated information and attended sessions. Below, we have shared our ALA experiences with you.
Enjoy,
Helen, Becky and Mikelle
Helen: I was last in New Orleans for the ALA Conference in 2006. At that time, New Orleans was just recovering from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation and most conventions had re-scheduled their events to other cities. ALA, however, decided that the conference would go ahead in the Big Easy even though a sizeable portion of the convention center was still undergoing repair. Their reasoning? The best way to help New Orleans recover would be to bring business to the city. And, the best way to do that would be to go ahead with the conference in New Orleans as scheduled. The city responded with an overwhelming welcome. Now, five years later, the massive convention center is in full operation and the city is humming. More than 20,000 people were in attendance and the FCC was among over 900 exhibiting organizations.
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